Happy Birthday Butterfly Bliss Garden Shutters card

Hello Crafty Friends!

Have you seen the Butterfly Bliss Garden Shutters die set designed by Becca Feeken (Amazing Paper Grace) for Spellbinders? It is a very sweet die set that creates an interactive shutter style card. 

The die set consists of 19 thin metal dies that you can use to create a unique card for someone special. I saw this die set and knew I had to have it! My cards will be taken to a whole new level with this set.

The inspiration for my card today is the soft nature of June. My garden has happy little flowers throughout the summer and the June flowers are light colored and delicate. The flowers host beautiful butterflies, bees, and other delightful wee creatures. A garden is truly a magnificent place!

For the card I used the following product designed by Becca Feeken: 

Amazing Paper Grace Butterfly Bliss Garden die set (S6-183)

Amazing Paper Grace Tiara Rondelle (S5-342)

Also used was Spellbinders Hot Foil Be Bold Glimmer Sentiments (GLP-299)

The color choices are antique pink, ivory, gold, and white (vellum) as the colors are fresh and uplifting. The colors really bring out the intricate details of the shutter dies.

The butterflies are die cut in gold and ivory card stock as well as white vellum. I added some Nuvo Drops in White Blizzard to the butterfly wings. The butterflies are beautiful!

The card corners are created using ivory card stock with the Tiara Rondelle die set. The corners are not necessary as the card looked lovely as is- I just wanted to add them as "landing spots" for more butterflies.  :)

When the tab is pulled, the shutters flip up and the foiled Happy Birthday with another wee butterfly appears.  I chose the opposite colors for the inside shutters- pink as the ornate die cut with an ivory background.

I adore how this card turned out and look forward to creating another!  It was fun to make and the die set results in not only a unique but beautiful card. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Have a happy, crafty day!

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

Hello Crafty Friends!

Hello Crafty Friends!

How are you all?  Have you been crafty and happy?  I do hope so!  Crafting is one of many joys I have in life so I make sure to take time to create- whether that is every day or once a week.  My blog may have been on pause the past year and a half but my crafting was not.

If you follow me on Instagram (@kathyjocrafts) then you will see a snippet of a few projects.  Sometimes I shared some quick videos of projects on Facebook, too.  But, mostly, I kept the creations to myself.  

I was on the Crafters Companion design team for a couple of years.  The team members were very nice and hard working crafters!  

After the time on the team I took a break from cardmaking and turned my interests to junk journaling.  Oh- that is too fun!  Using old or "junk" items in new ways was exhilarating.  I keep almost all junk mail envelopes now and cut pretty pictures from otherwise tossed mail or magazines.  And using my favorite drink (tea!) to dye paper is awesome.  Taking old index cards and dying them to create mushroom cards was so enjoyable.

I also spent more time playing with product I hardly used- whether it was watercolors...

(...including super cute watercoloring)

...using alcohol inks with new stamps (or at least new to me!)...

...and playing with stencils.

More photos will be shared and my YouTube channel will have videos uploaded.  :)

In short, the blog has been neglected but creativity has not.  You will see more posts here, Instagram, Facebook, and videos on YouTube.  Yes, it is time to share again.  And time to share some FANTABULOUS news...but that will need to wait a few days.  Until then...

Thank you very much for stopping by!

Have a happy, crafty day.

Hugs!

Kathy Jo

Inky fun snowflake Christmas card!

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Are you looking for an inky, easy, last minute winter card to create?  Look no further than this festively fun card using Suzanne's holiday stamps.

The main stamp set used is the lovely A Whisper On My Nose stamp set:

It is a three stamp set (two individual snowflakes and the poem).  I also used snowflakes from other Suzanne stamp sets but you can easily just use the two snowflakes from this set.

Card instructions:

1-    Create a tent fold 4.25 x 5.5" card base from red card stock.

2-    Cut a piece of white or ivory card stock to 4 x 5.25".

3-    To prevent static, use an anti-static pouch on your white card stock.  Use Versamark or white embossing powder to stamp the snowflakes.  Use embossing powder (such as the Gesso White Modern Gilding Powder) to heat emboss the snowflakes.

4-    Use a red water reactive ink (such as Spectrum Noir Water reactive or Ranger Distress Ink) the create an ombre background.  Start with the red on the bottom and gradually lighten as you go up.  Wipe snowflakes off with a clean, dry cloth to remove the red ink.  Optional: flick water on the background and pat dry for a wet, distressed look.  Use double sided tape to mount to card base.

5-    Stamp the poem using black ink (heat emboss using the Gothic Black Gilding Powders looks fabulous!).  Die cut using a square stitched die.  Apply red ink along edges.

6-    Die cut red card stock using the next larger size stitched square die.  Mount poem onto red die cut.  Use double sided foam tape to mount to card front.

7-    For extra awesome, add gems or glitter to the snowflake centers and randomly on the background.

The red really makes the snowflakes pop and adds a festive feel to the card.  

Thank you for stopping by!

Have a happy, crafty day!

Big hugs,

Kathy Jo

Slide out pocket holiday card

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I am sharing a slide out pocket card using the There are Many Gifts stamp set designed by Suzanne Cannon.  The stamp set is available at Emerald Creek.

For more photos and details, feel free to hop on over to Quietfire Creations.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a happy, crafty day.

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

Follow me on Instagram for crafty fun!

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just wanted to drop you all a line to say that I am very active on Instagram (@kathyjocrafts ).  I love to share snapshots of what I am working on, 

completed projects, 

craft room storage, 

and new products (newly released or new to me!).  

Of course, I also like to share pics of my sweet Saint Bernard, Teddy, and his three feline siblings.  They are my crafty helpers.  :)

Instagram is great as I enjoy crafting and taking a quick snapshot of my crafty happiness to share with others makes crafting even better!  :)

Thank you for stopping by!  I do hope you all are having a happy, crafty day!

Big Hugs,

Kathy Jo

New release from Crafter's Companion!

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Have you seen the new releases from Crafter's Companion?  Many of the new releases are available on HSN in the U.S.  Most products will be available on the Crafter's Companion online store, too.  The online store may be a couple of weeks or more behind the HSN release.

I just thought I would pop in and share some of the samples created for the show.  The first photo (above) shows off the new Edge-ables curved dies.

A new set of word dies have been released.  The Family die set is perfect for not only card fronts but also albums and scrapbook pages.

"You make my heart happy" looks great with the dotty stencil die and Spectrum Noir wax background.  Great for Valentine's Day and albums!

The It's Your Birthday was too fun and coordinates well with Crafter's Companion Celebrations patterned paper.

A new release of Create-a-card stamp and die sets include the Butterfly frame set.  I used the set with Spectrum Noir Aqua markers and soft vellum embossed paper.

A fun new collection is the Best of British.  It includes papers, dies, stamps, and embossing folders.

Crafter's Companion also released new card making kits.  My favorite is the Easel Card Kit.  Such beautiful colors and patterns!  

The Push Up Posies is another kit and wow- the results are amazing!  A great project to brighten anyone's day!

Above are just some of the project samples created for HSN.  Feel free to join the Fans of Crafter's Companion on HSN Facebook group or I'm a Crafter's Companion Facebook group for more inspiration and sneak peeks of upcoming releases!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a happy, crafty day.

Big Hugs,

Kathy Jo

Step-by-step tutorial: Vintage Christmas card

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Can you believe it is November already?  Most of my crafting for this month will involve holiday cards...and I love it!  

On Sunday I finished a vintage style Christmas card using Quietfire Design's beautiful "Have yourself a merry" stamp...

... and lovely Celtic Mint Modern Gilding Powder.  The project is shared on the Quietfire Creations blog with step-by-step instructions and photos.  (Yay!)  Feel free to hop on over to the blog post for all of the details.

Thank you for stopping by!  

Have a happy crafty day.

Big Hugs,

Kathy Jo

"Nature gives to every season" Autumn inspired card

Hello Crafters!

Today I am sharing an autumn inspired card at Quietfire Creations.  The card features stamps from the festive, fall stamp set: Autumn Collection.

Feel free to hop on over to the post to see the steps taken for this easy but lovely card.  :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Have a happy, crafty day.

Big Hugs,

Kathy Jo

 

Video Tutorial: Fancy Fold Friendship card!

Hello Crafty Friends!

Are you a member of the Suzanne Cannon Fan Group on Facebook?  It is a happy place for fans of Suzanne to see projects using her product, learn about special sales, be the first to learn about new product, and watch Facebook Lives that share new techniques and tutorials.  The FB Lives occur on most Thursday evenings at 7pm EST and sometimes during the week we might share a special FB Live.

Last Thursday I shared a fancy fold card using three of Suzanne's gorgeous stamps.  The card has special folds revealing a sweet hidden message:

 Lift the band and then the banner to reveal the sentiment:

The card is fun and easy to make!  Check out the video for the card instructions (Click here if you are viewing this through email):

Suzanne Cannon stamps used:
Twiggy Wreath and Sentiments
You are Sunlight
Friends are

Thank you for stopping by!
Have a happy, crafty day!
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Weekly projects video! Altenew, Graphic 45, Crafter's Companion, Spectrum Noir and Quietfire Design

Hello Crafty Friends!

Do you get to craft often?  I do hope you can.  Just stealing 15 minutes in a day to color, stamp, or fussy cut can be a great way to unwind.  I encourage you all to take time for yourself to do so.  You deserve it!

I try to create every day and some weeks I find that many projects are completed.  Last Sunday I was tidying up my crafty area and took a good look at what had been accomplished during the week.  It was then that I did a spur of the moment Facebook Live to share my crafty projects.  Here is the video of completed projects:

The week was full of projects using product from Altenew, Graphic 45, Crafter's Companion, Spectrum Noir, and Quietfire Design. 

I will create separate blog posts for the projects with proper product links.  In the meantime, here are links to stores carrying the product used:

Altenew
Scrapbook.com
Craftstash
Quietfire Design

Feel free to follow me on Facebook or Instragram!  Would love to see hear from you there!
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/kathyjo.wood
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/kathyjocrafts/?hl=en

Thank you for stopping by! 
Have a happy, crafty day.
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Stamp focus: Look for the dream

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today it is my turn to share at Quietfire Creations and I created a dreamy card using Quietfire Design's beautiful Look for the dream stamp:

Such a gorgeous stamp!

Feel free to hop on over to the Quietfire Creations post for more details.

Thank you for stopping by!
Kathy Jo

Sneak Peek! Crafter's Companion Pop Up Card and stamps

Hello Crafty Friends!

It is new release time at Crafter's Companion...woo-who!  I was so excited in anticipation for the release date as I wanted to share my favorite project: a mixed media pop up card box.  The box was created using the new Pop Up Card die set, Pop Up stamp set, and Clear Texture Stamps set.  All of the product is currently available on HSN.

The fun flowers were colored using Spectrum Noir Water Reactive Inks.  The Texture Stamps were heat embossed for extra detail.   Love the way it turned out!

Isn't it just the sweetest?  This card makes me happy...I hope you enjoyed it, too!

Thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to check out all of the other new Crafter's Companion product on HSN.  :)
Hugs,
Kathy Jo